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For figure skaters, choosing music comes with risk

At this week's U.S. Olympic figure skating trials, there will be countless Carmens. More Phantoms than at any actual opera. And enough Rhapsody in Blues to film a fleet of airline commercials.But there also

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At this week's U.S. Olympic figure skating trials, there will be countless Carmens. More Phantoms than at any actual opera. And enough Rhapsody in Blues to film a fleet of airline commercials.

But there also will be Pink Floyd, some Michael Jackson and an emotional tribute to Boston's strength after the 2013 marathon bombing.

Selecting music before a season is always the most important first step for a skater, but in an Olympic year, even more so. "For the Olympics you want something really memorable and something really epic," said Gracie Gold, who won silver at last year's nationals. "That kind of music and program that people pull up on YouTube years and years later, and as they watch that skater they think about that Olympic moment."

Even with all the triple jumps and quads, a skating program is as much an artistic performance as it is an athletic one. The goal is to tell a story through music and movement, and the transcendent moments, such as Michelle Kwan's Salome, are remembered for years.

Gold made a bold, and perhaps risky, move after the Grand Prix season, changing her short program music from Three Preludes to Grieg's Piano Concerto.

After Gold finished fourth at the NHK Trophy in Japan in November, Frank Carroll suggested changing her short program. Carroll, who began coaching Gold in September, well after her programs had been in place, thought the music was too modern for the judges, Gold said.

With trials just two months away, Gold initially thought that a change would be too drastic. But once she heard the music and met with noted choreographer Lori Nichol, she was convinced. "It's so calm and so beautiful there's not much more I can ask for," Gold said. "This is a more a universally well-liked piece of music."

But there is risk. Unlike the other top skaters who have performed their programs in pressure situations for months, the first time Gold will skate to Piano Concerto in a competition will be Thursday in Boston.

Gold's free skate, Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, remains the same, and was specifically chosen with Sochi, where the Olympics will open in 31 days, in mind. "We wanted something traditionally Russian," she said.

Which is not what Ashley Wagner had in mind when she chose Pink Floyd's Shine on You Crazy Diamond, which was suggested by choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne.

"I loved the sex appeal she brought to my skating and thought that was something that skating right now is really missing," said Wagner, 22. "I don't think we need to be overly sexy, but I think what's missing is a woman on the ice, someone who is feminine and strong at the same time."

Wagner also liked the psychedelic rock selection was "kinda edgy" and allowed her to take on an alter ego. "It made me feel like I was giving off a bad gal kind of vibe," she said, "even though I'm so far from it."

For some, taking on an alter ego simply isn't in the cards. Ross Miner's coach Mark Mitchell once suggested he skate to International Love by Pitbull.

"I am like the whitest boy ever," Miner said. "And the worst dancer."

However, Mitchell was right on, when he proposed music from Glory by Michael W. Smith to pay tribute to the victims and strength of Boston.

When Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured after hiding in a boat in Watertown, Mass., Miner was less than a mile away at home.

Four days earlier, when bombs exploded at the marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 250, Miner was at the Skating Club of Boston. "I was a little hesitant because I didn't want to be someone who was taking advantage of a situation that wasn't good," he said of Glory. "Then I heard the music and immediately knew I could connect to it and portray my own feelings."

Which is exactly what a skater hopes to do, move an audience, to cheers and even tears.